‘No, I can’t move it, obviously—’
‘You’re showing us what we can’t do,’ says Keera suddenly. ‘None of us can move the pebble without touching it.’
India jumps in suddenly: ‘And none of us can move anyone else’s mind or change their mind. It’s what you said: you can’t change anyone.’
‘Excellent answers,’ says Rose, beaming. ‘If the pebble was a person, we couldn’t make it happy or sad. The pebble would be in charge of all that. We could try, but it’s a hopeless case, don’t you all agree?’
The group are staring at her now.
Excellent.
Rose continues: ‘It’s easier to feel guilty overnotdoing the things that will make someone happy than to face the reality that wecannot make them happy at all. That’s down to them. We are as powerless over their moods and feelings as we are over this pebble.
‘If we bend ourselves into contortions to fix other people, we betray ourselves. If we pour our love into new people all the time to make up for inner pain, we also betray ourselves. We cannot move this pebble but we can move, and change, ourselves and our reactions to life.’
Nobody speaks but they all look down at the pebble itself.
Rose watches everyone processing the information.
Dan stares down at the pebble blankly as if it holds some vital scientific secret.
Dianne’s gaze is slightly glazed.
Did she have wine at lunch too? Rose does not approve.
Bernard looks sceptical of the pebble parable.
He thinks he can control everything, Rose feels.
Big mistake.
Huge.
Grazia is concentrating on the pebble. Her eye make-up has been beautifully reapplied since she and Rose walked into Xanthe together after lunch.
Grazia thought that Rose would be shocked at what she’d said but Rose isn’t. She’s heard everything, a fact which comforts the crying Grazia.
Bernard has now closed his eyes and steepled his fingers.
He could be having a nap but has perfected the art of looking thoughtful with his steepled fingers.
‘Bernard, what do you think?’ Rose asks.
‘Er …’
Bernard jerks into a more upright position.
Hewasdozing off.
Rose gives him a stern look but continues. ‘Now imagine the pebble every time you think of a person you somehow try to control or placate. Keera, you first?’
Keera needs to be jerked out of her scepticism.
‘Is there a person in your life who you try to keep happy? This is a type of control – controlling as much as you can with the aim of making a particular person love you or understand you.’
Keera keeps looking at the stone on the table and Rose waits.
Keera doesn’t answer but she’s thinking.
